Ralph Fitche England?S Pioneer To India And Burma

The author discusses Ralph Fitch public affairs in Europe, and the work of adventure, exploration, and expansion by his own countrymen, had been making rapid progress. London and Lisbon; and in September, the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of North America was marked by the opening of a tower erected at Bristol in memory of John and Sebastian Cabot. Under these circumstances it is remarkable that the story of Ralph Fitch, embodying as it does, the first English account of the great resources of India and the Further East, should have escaped adequate attention. Passing references to his adventurous journey are made by all the modern authorities Professor Monier Williams, in the Contemporary Review of April, 1878, writing of the narrative and, assumedly, of the letters sent home by Fitch and his companions, says, ?The account they published of their travels (preserved by Hakluyt) would well repay republication in a modern form, especially if illustrated and annotated like Colonel Yule’s ‘Marco Polo.? The account of the voyage is here presented in full, with one small excision, which is duly indicated, for the first time since Hakluyt gave it to the world three centuries ago.